It's closer to a sandbox Homeworld in control, but with Freelancer progression. It's not anywhere near as good as either, though. For something different, it passes muster.

I played long enough to find an area that I could keep going in and out of and collect all the debris and salvage left by numerous battles in the sector that kept respawning every time I left & came back. After a few hours I had outfitted myself in top-notch equipment and kind of felt like I had set the game to "easy" mode - but it's either "easy" or "why do I keep dying" ... sooo...